attention to his work again.
As they walked, something began to bother her. She'd thought Ragni's comment to Kitna and Rolf very strange at the time, but dismissed it… but now there was this behavior…
Accessing his project, she started going over his work, but she didn't know enough about programming to decipher it. "What is this? Checksum errors on some game?"
"Busy work to keep the Subian out of the important stuff," he responded.
She narrowed her eyes, not fully believing him, but there was nothing further to go on.
Fully aware of the connotations of their exchange, Kitna looked past Rolf, smirking at her.
The long climb up the East Residency stairs took her mind off anything but the fatigue, but, lying back to back with Rolf in darkness, she began to wonder again.
Og and his girl exchanged muffled laughter and whispered conversations on the other cot for quite some time, settling into even more annoying noises soon after.
Feeling Rolf's boney back pressed into hers, enduring all the stresses of the day replaying themselves, she felt the overpowering urge to wake him and suddenly apologize for all the mean things she'd ever said and done to him… but she had the horrible notion that he would just stare back at her with that blank expression, not caring, always not caring… so damn infuriating.
She got up and left the crowded darkness, wandering down the stairs and out into the sunlight, cursing the stress. Exhaustion was a killer, as the saying went, but she couldn't stand a second longer in that dark room, trapped in her own head.
Moving through the crowd of Night shift actives, she took up a seat at the edge of a gapsquare. Looking down at the smooth sea, she imagined she could still see that little boy floating face-down in the water… skipping back in her lifelog, grabbing his tag, she pulled his profile.
Alexander.
She hadn't had the chance to check his name at the time…
Trying to avoid depressing thoughts, she shook her head and did a search for more funky dance videos. That quickly proved pointless, as over a million different people had posted videos of themselves in the same vein. She tried looking at those with the most upvotes, but the iterative series of copies building on copies had evolved too quickly for her to catch up. She had no idea what she was looking at or why it was supposed to be funny… in-jokes upon in-jokes, she supposed.
Closing the list in dismay, she leaned on the warm stone, having no idea what to do next - in that moment, or in life. She'd tried making a stand over something, and it had almost ended in disaster. Ragni had said they needed a plan…
"Sorry, didn't know you'd be here," someone said to her left.
She turned to find Jason standing at the low gapsquare wall.
"I just couldn't sleep," he said, staring down at the sea below. "That kid was a damn hero. He died here to stop a riot, and it's like nothing ever happened." He gestured around at the milling crowds going about their Night shift business. "He said it's not worth it. He said that about his own life. I can't even comprehend the guts that took."
She curled her lip in a light empathetic frown.
"And everyone's terrified to talk about it," he continued, spilling his thoughts. "And maybe they're right. Everything we say or do gets heard by everyone. A stand over some thief kid here is a stand against every community everywhere. Against our very way of life."
She straightened, thinking about the intense unexpected reaction from the crowd at the time. "Yeah… maybe that's it."
"What do we do?" he asked, forlorn. "Children… dying in alleys…"
"Alone…" she added, her frown deepening. "I don't know. Maybe there's nothing we can do. Thieves can't get away with it. Everything's registered all the time. They know they're going to get caught."
"They do it because they're dying," he said. "Can't control themselves."
"Some can," she countered, looking back down at the sea. "But they're still just on their own. Growing up alone on the street is hell. Nobody cares about anyone's business but their own. They just let anyone… do anything… as long as it doesn't impact them… or their precious money." She squeezed her hands into clenched fists.
"Nobody has the time or energy to care," he admitted. "It's the Peak, it's the lowest it's been in a decade. The pressure's on."
"Yeah, I guess."
They stood in shared dismayed silence.
"Look," he suddenly spoke. "I'm sorry about how I acted this morning, when we first met."
She looked sidelong at him, wary. She suddenly noticed the slight slur of drunkenness in his words, and became visibly guarded. "It's fine."
"I just thought that maybe -"
"Don't."
He held out a hand. "No, I just mean -"
"Seriously." She turned away.
"I'm just -" He reached out and grabbed her forearm.
In a flash, her vitals spiked, and her face and neck flushed red with panic. "Don't touch me!" she screamed, pulling away forcefully, clawing with all her might.
He let go, taken aback by her reaction.
She ran off into the crowd.
Rolf remained painfully awake on his half of the cot, his gaze absently crossing the shadowed sleepers in the cot in front of him.
Without a word, Elizabeth returned. She curled up on her half of the cot in a ball, her heart rate dangerously high. As the bottom dipped with the extra weight, they slid back to back again.
He'd noticed her vitals spike, and then watched what happened, but he had no idea what to say or do for this sort of thing. He turned his head up as if to speak to her, but he closed his mouth again a moment later.
He lowered his head back to the cot's stretchy material, saying nothing.
She breathed rapidly for a few moments.
"I hate you," she whispered.
He turned back. "What?"
The cot squeaked as she rolled over forcefully.
"What?" he asked again, his voice low to keep from disturbing others.
Her expression furious, she pushed him.
He stumbled out of the cot, standing in surprise. "What are you doing?"
She followed him up, pushing him again. "Get out of here!"
Sleepers began stirring, watching the altercation from their stacked cots.
He stepped back. "Elizabeth, what the hell?"
She punched him as hard as she could in the chest.
"What is your problem?"
Her jaw trembling, her face screwed up, she cracked a fist against his cheek.
Caught off guard by the pain, he pushed back forcefully.
"Guys, stop!" Og called from his cot, the Nord girl still curled in his arm.
Elizabeth pushed him one more time. "Get out!"
Rolf regarded her with confusion and anger, but said nothing, instead turning to walk away with a disgusted noise.
He stalked through the dark hallway, down the long stairs, and out into the crowds. The Unsetting Sun seemed especially hot and mocking during times he should have been asleep.
"Hey, wait!"
He stopped, saying nothing.
Dierk came up to him, his expression blank save for curiosity. "What was that about?"
He shook his head. "The usual…" He stalked over to the East Residency's outer wall, seeking a moment's peace to calm down.
Dierk followed him. "We could find another place to sleep."
"Why would you go, too? You're not the one kicked out."
He sniffed once, his thin angular nose expanding with the intake of breath. His eyes remained lightly positive. "Maybe we should start sticking together, rather than staying spread out."
"You'd take that risk?" Rolf asked, genuinely surprised.
Dierk blinked, but gave no answer.
On his map, he noticed Kitna returning. He sighed. A moment's peace - what a pipe dream.
She wandered in through the main entrance, heading for his location.
"Who's that?" Dierk asked, noticing his unhappy gaze.
"And t
hen there were three," he muttered.
She moved through the crowd with a slinky grace, subtly challenging those around her as she walked, rather than attempting to pass by unnoticed as he preferred.
Rolf set his jaw, bracing for the coming trial.
"Hello!" Dierk greeted her, offering his hand in the old style.
"Who's this weird kid?" she asked.
"I'm Dierk," he answered for himself.
"He's Dierk," Rolf said flatly. "Dierk, this is Kitna."
She smiled slowly, taking his hand and shaking it. "Always nice to meet another member of our little tribe."
"Likewise." He turned to Rolf. "She seems nice."
He gave no answer, instead staring her down.
She put her hands on her hips. "What, can't a girl visit without getting the old suspicious-Rolf routine? You can't blow me off forever."
"Maybe. Maybe not."
She smiled over at their third wheel. "Hey Dierk, would you like to play a game with us?"
"Sure," he said with a smile, oblivious to the tension.
"Great." She sat down against the wall. They sank down next to her, one excited, one wary.
They logged in together in the middle of a massive white hexagonal space; the roof of some arbitrarily large tower. A few other virtual avatars lounged about, mostly idle, some running about.
She pointed at a distant floating continent.
They transitioned to the indicated subgame.
"Welcome to Starships II," she said, moving her hand in an arc across the vista below.
An array of rectangular starfields lay patterned before them, displaying fleets of ships engaged in tactical combat. Each game held two opponents, each commanding their own fleet.
They moved down the visual interface, heading into the main chatroom.
"You ever play this game before?" she asked.
Dierk brought his gaze back from all the games going on before them. "Nope."
She